Progressive Educators Have Ushered in a Learning Recession

It’s no surprise to those of us who pay attention that our public school system has a major problem. Thanks to COVID lockdowns and woke indoctrination policies in classrooms, reading test scores declined in 47 of 50 states. There are states, including Illinois, where multiple schools have zero students proficient in reading. 

Despite this, so-called ‘educators’ insist on using the classrooms as political soap-boxes and not places where students actually learn. The indoctrination is more important than having an educated public, after all. Indoctrinated kids grow up to be reliable Democratic Party voters.

🚨 We are officially in a “learning recession.” 8th-grade reading scores have hit their lowest point since 1990.

So how are states responding? By forcing teachers to master ideological activism just to keep their teaching licenses.

The entire K-12 educator pipeline is being… pic.twitter.com/XQBYQTfoBg

— NAVI (@NAVIvalues) June 24, 2026

Here’s more:

The United States has entered a “learning recession,” according to a new Education Scorecard report. Nationally, eighth-grade reading scores now stand at their lowest point since 1990, and fourth-grade reading has fallen back to pre-2003 levels. Only 31 percent of American fourth-grade students are proficient.

California’s results were similarly dismal. Yet this news doesn’t seem to be ringing any alarm bells in Sacramento. As the school year wrapped up, the state’s Department of Education was busy sponsoring a training for K–12 teachers that encouraged them to “take action” to transform schools into “liberatory systems.”

Such trainings are no aberration. Activism and ideology, not student performance, are priorities not just in California but also in many other states.

Illinois, and specifically Chicago Public Schools (CPS), are another hotbed where indoctrination trumps education. Less than one-third of CPS students read on grade level, and even fewer are proficient in math.

Local media framed the recent Chicago Public Schools Congressional testimony as a standard culture-war battle.

In doing so, they missed the real story: documented evidence of one-sided political advocacy in classrooms, including student field trips openly designated for partisan… pic.twitter.com/oUUjXJJsKP

— NAVI (@NAVIvalues) June 26, 2026

“Chicago parents and educators deserve a school system that prioritizes academic proficiency and core civic knowledge over outside political agendas nefariously branded as civics education,” the post reads. “Schools should teach complex issues with balance and nuance, not promote partisan activism. @Chi_PubSchools has a duty to keep the agenda of @CTULocal1 out of class.”

Here’s more on CPS’s political advocacy problem:

When millions of Chicago residents watched news coverage of Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Macquline King’s testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on June 10th, you’d have been led to believe it was only a right-wing attack over transgender student policies. Local media framed the federal hearing primarily as a standard culture-war battle, but that’s not all that surfaced.

By viewing the proceedings through this hyper-narrow lens, the broader public discussion has missed a much deeper, systemic breakdown occurring within our school system. The hearing exposed an unprecedented erosion of the boundaries between public education and partisan activism, a breakdown orchestrated by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and enabled by CPS leadership, which deserves direct, unyielding scrutiny.

It will take political fortitude to fix this problem, and this is why local politics is so important. Parents need to get involved in school boards and city council elections to thwart the sort of activism and indoctrination that takes root in these governing bodies.

Editor’s Note: President Trump is fighting to ensure America’s kids get the education they deserve.

Help us fight back against Big Government waste and restore power to the states. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.